'I know it's a good situation for us at the moment, but we can't let our guard down because we haven't played a game yet and Syria have been a tough opponent.

A few days later, at a pre-match press conference in Melaka, Malaysia, Dragon Country coach Lippi said.

The match was nominally Syria's "home stadium", but due to the complex situation in the country, the match was also moved to Southeast Asia.

In fact, it is foreseeable that this game will become the home of the Dragon Kingdom again, after all, there are quite a lot of Chinese in Malaysia.

And the reason why Lippi said "the situation is good" is because the other two games in this group have already been played first.

These are two positive results for the Dragon Kingdom.

First of all, Iran beat Uzbekistan 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Azmoun and Taremi.

Such a score allowed Iran to consolidate the top spot in the group with 17 points with 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, while also fixing the score of third-placed Uzbekistan at 12 points.

And more importantly, another game.

Qatar, who are at the bottom of the group, broke the upset and defeated the invincible South Korea team 3-2 at home!

As a result, although the South Korean team is still in second place in the group, the number of points is still unchanged at 13 points.

In this way, the opportunity for the "opponent to make a mistake" that the Dragon Country team has been waiting for has finally come.

The current Dragons have 10 points from 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, and if they can beat Syria tomorrow's "away", they will have 13 points.

Such points will not only surpass Uzbekistan, but even surpass South Korea in one fell swoop because of the advantage of goal difference, and jump directly to the second place in the group!

The second place in the group will be able to qualify directly from Group A!

Therefore, when such two results were passed to the Dragon Country, the fans of the entire Dragon Country were boiling.

Everyone also believes that the Dragon Country team will be able to seize this opportunity and then firmly grasp the initiative to qualify in their own hands!

And this, in fact, is also what the national football coaching staff represented by Pan Yi is worried about, and the optimism of public opinion will also bring unnecessary pressure to the national football players.

Therefore, Lippi also did the same as Pan Yi in the team meeting, hoping that the outside world can relieve the pressure on the players.

"The losses in Uzbekistan and South Korea gave us a chance, and in fact, it also gave Syria a chance." Lippi went on to say:

"We are 10 points and Syria is 8 points. If they can beat us, they will have 11 points and they will be able to beat us. Therefore, for Syria, this is also a big battle for qualification. ”

"So we must not ignore Syria. Let's not forget, just last October, we lost 1-0 to them when we played at home in real time. ”

"In Asia, there is no real super team, and whoever dares to underestimate the opponent will pay a heavy price. Qatar is also an example, who would think they can still beat South Korea after they are already out of the tournament early? But they just did. ”

'I would say that we don't have any quality advantage against an opponent like this, even if we may get more support from the fans in this game, but we have to give it our all.

"I can understand the feelings of my journalist friends and fans, and believe me, when I hear the news of these two games, I am as happy as you are. But I have to be cautious. ”

"Every game strategy that I make, all my work goals, is to do everything I can to beat the opponent and I want to bring the national team to the World Cup. But the previous three wins in a row, there were all sorts of factors that we can't afford to be careless. ”

'There is a lot of pressure on our players at the club, they have been playing in the league for a few months, some of them have been going back and forth between Europe and the country, I can feel the feeling in their hearts to play for their country, but I also hope that all the journalists and fans will understand and respect us.

"I've led a lot of teams, and I've dealt with reporters and fans in various countries, and the best weapons for public opinion are always the best weapons for public opinion. Please forgive me for being offended, but I sincerely believe that the public opinion in the past period of time has been a praising of us, which will put us under a lot of unnecessary psychological pressure and burden. ”

'Thank you for your understanding and support, but we have to put all our minds on this game and not assume that we have three points. The more this is the case, the more likely it is that the score will be far away from us. ”

After Lippi's words, the media reporters at the scene also nodded.

They also felt that this period of time seemed to be really too optimistic, and even so optimistic that they forgot that Syria was a team that once beat the national football team at home in the Dragon Country.

Add to that the fact that Qatar beat South Korea's "Jewel in the Front", and it won't be a surprise that anything really happens tomorrow's game.

"We will call on the major media and fans to look at this game with a normal heart and avoid putting more pressure on the national football team!"

The reporter of the "Football Newspaper" stood up and said.

This is also the idea of the journalists present, and they also agreed.

As reporters specializing in reporting on the national football team, they themselves are first and foremost fans of the national football team, and of course they also hope that the national football team can get better.

Since the head coach wants to relieve the pressure on the national football team, then of course they will do the same.

As for some other minorities, some unscrupulous media or self-media that only look at traffic, then let it go, as long as the mainstream media can make the right choice.

"I've heard that there are some players who are not in very good shape, can Mr. Lippi tell us about that?" The reporter of "Sports Weekly" asked.

This mainly refers to domestic players who participate in the Chinese Super League.

Although the 12th round of the Chinese Super League ended 10 days ago, some major national football teams, such as Changzhou Hengtai, still participated in the upcoming AFC Champions League matches.

And in this game against Kashima Antlers, several Changzhou Hengtai players were also plagued by some injuries and were also substituted halfway through.

So the media is also a little worried about this, and wants to know how they have recovered in the past few days.

Lippi said that after the players returned to the team, the medical team has officially taken over, and the situation is still okay, and he hopes that the outside world can reduce unnecessary speculation and avoid causing panic.

"The current list of 25 people was drawn up by me and Pan Yi, since they are all called into the current national team, it means that their physical condition can meet the requirements of the game, and you don't have to worry about this."

"Of course, even a small injury will have some impact on the player's competitive condition, but we will continue to select players who are in the best form and meet the requirements of the national team to start."

"I still want to reiterate that the right mental state is more important than the physical state, so I hope that everyone can try to give us a more relaxed and stress-free preparation and competition environment......

——

Lippi in front is still dealing with reporters, while on the other side, Pan Yi is learning about the situation with the team's physical trainer Claudio Gaudino.

"It's not particularly good."

The world's top physical fitness expert is talking to Pan Yi worriedly.

Pan Yi had been mentally prepared for this.

The situation in the Chinese Super League itself is a bit more special than that of the Europa League.

This "special" is not about the level of the game or anything, the main thing is that the territory of the Dragon Country is vast, and the Chinese Super League teams often play an away game, which is similar to the Western European team flying to Russia and Ukraine.

Coupled with the problems of domestic flights, urban transportation and other aspects, the consumption of players in away games is far greater than that of away games in the Champions League, and it is not comparable to the domestic venues of major European leagues.

This does not include away games in the AFC Champions League.

It takes as much as 12 hours to fly from Guangzhou to Japan.

In the middle of the Chinese Super League, this objective situation still has a certain impact on the players' bodies.

In fact, the injuries that occur in the game are actually caused by these external factors in many cases.

At the beginning of the national football team's training camp, people like Zheng Zhi and Mei Fang, including Li Xuepeng and Wu Xi were all a little injured.

In fact, including Lin Liangming, although he is not a Chinese Super League player, he also showed a certain amount of fatigue in the FA Cup final, otherwise he would not have been replaced in advance.

Obviously, after a few days of rest, these players have not improved in particular, which is bound to affect their competitive form.

"If you can't recover 100 percent, then don't force it." Pan Yi said.

"What do you mean......"

'We've got other good players, no problem.'

Pan Yi patted Gaudino on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Indeed, if the national football team lacks five main players all of a sudden, it will have a certain impact on the strength of the team.

But Pan Yi believes in the current national football team.

There's always a way!

Gaudino was obviously still a little skeptical: "But ......"

Pan Yi means simply using substitute players, but the problem is that the current situation of the national team is there, and the strength is like this, and the use of substitutes will inevitably affect the performance of the national team.

What's more, no one is sure whether the team will drop the chain after changing a number of main players.

You know, Syria is really not a soft persimmon!

While the two were talking, Lippi had also completed the task of the press conference and walked out.

Pan Yi also immediately greeted him with Gaudino:

"Come on, let's study tomorrow's starting lineup......

——

On the evening of June 13, Malaysia.

When Lippi and Pan Yi led all the players of the Dragon Nation team to appear in the Hamjabal Stadium in Malacca, the audience applauded.

As everyone expected before the game, the stadium has become a sea of red, full of people waving five-star red flags.

Today, it is actually the home of the national football team!

In the stands, the fans of the Dragon Kingdom even opened a banner, only to see that it reads "Kick out the style, no matter whether you win or lose, we support you!" ”

This also shows that now the fans also understand the current situation of the national football team and are trying their best to relieve the pressure on the team!

This simple sentence moved Pan Yi, who walked out of the players' tunnel, and immediately applauded the fans at the scene.

This move naturally caused a burst of cheers and responses from the fans of the Dragon Kingdom.

It seems that the coaching staff's appeal is useful, and the fans are showing their support with practical actions.

Judging from the expressions of the Dragon Country players who are training on the field, they should have adjusted their mentality very well, and they did not form the burden of wanting to win and being afraid of losing because of the current good situation.

Of course, from the fans' point of view, today's final pre-match warm-up can still show some different things from the usual.

That is, on the side wearing the training vest that symbolizes the main force, in addition to the regular main forces such as Wu Lei and Zhang Yuning, there are also Zhang Xizhe, Yu Hanchao and others.

This means that the starting lineup of the Dragon Country team will change today!

However, no matter how the outside world speculates about today's starters, in the Dragon Country team, this has already been decided.

This morning, Pan Yi had already informed every player of the results of the discussion with Lippi.

Not only the starting and substitute lists, but also those international players who missed the squad, he personally informed them.

It's a good habit to get players to understand their role in the game as early as possible and then move into that role quickly, rather than thinking about it and getting carried away.

And when the pre-game warm-up was over and everyone returned to the locker room, Lippi also entrusted Pan Yi to give a brief lecture as usual.

Pan Yi said: "Some people say that our team can only rely on a set of lineups to win the world, and I don't approve of it. ”

"Every single one of you has been carefully selected by the coaching staff, and as long as you are in the national team, everyone should use his energy to help the team."

"That's how it was today. Some of the veteran players have injuries and are not in great shape, so this is the time for you to step up! ”

"You don't need any pressure, I trust my own eyes, I never doubt you, I will never look away, you have what it takes to wear this shirt and play for the national team."

Hearing Pan Yi say this, the starters glanced at each other, and there was a hint of determination in their eyes, especially those players who were not regular starters before.

Pan Yi continued:

"Today we were theoretically away, but the countless fans who supported us turned it into our home stadium and we will fight for them!"

'Syria beat us in their last fixture, but our recent good form will definitely make them fearful.'

"As I said, they're not easy opponents to play against, but it's true that they're not as strong as South Korea or Iran overall. We can't be careless against them, but we don't need to be afraid either! ”

'As long as we can play at a normal level, as long as we can keep the ball and the tempo firmly in our hands, trust me, we can win this game and you will surprise everyone.'

When he said this, Pan Yi looked at Huang Bowen and Zhang Xizhe, who were sitting next to each other, and the two will start in the back position in this game.

"I can tell you with absolute certainty that after the start, Syria will be on the defensive, but we have to take the initiative. We're going to use the rush to create an opportunity in the opening scene, and you two need to be careful to control the rhythm and don't be greedy, you know? Pan Yi asked.

Huang Bowen and Zhang Xizhe both nodded in unison.

Zheng Zhi couldn't play, and Pan Yi suggested that Lippi simply go directly to Zhang Xizhe to replace him, and form a dual-technical midfielder with Huang Bowen to strengthen the control of the midfield.

In the last game against Iran, Hao Junmin, who came off the bench and decided the situation with a free kick, played a position similar to a midfielder in front of them.

'Syria didn't have a lot of attacking ability on either side, so in this game I allowed our full-backs to be more involved up front, but we had to play smarter, especially on the counter-attack.

The two fullbacks who started this game, Wang Shenchao and Zhang Linpeng, nodded in unison, which was also told before the game.

"It's better to be prepared for the battle, especially to minimise unnecessary physical contact with the opposing defenders, our strengths are passing and penetration, you know what I mean?"

"Understood!" The players replied in unison.

In the end, Pan Yi suddenly remembered something, walked over and patted Wang Shenchao's shoulder: "You didn't wear a necklace, did you?" If you have one, take it off for me! ”

——

"The race is about to start! Hello audience friends, I am He Wei, and today I will explain this game to you with Director Zhang Luzhang. ”

"This is the eighth round of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers round of 12, with Syria hosting the Dragons, but for well-known reasons, the venue for today's match is in neutral Malaysia."

"But the fans of the Dragon Country are very powerful, and it has turned this place into the home stadium of the Dragon Country, and the whole stadium is full of Dragon Country fans, and you can only see a few people holding the Syrian flag."

"We have already secured the starting line-up for this game for the national team. I believe that fans who are familiar with the national football team will be a little surprised after watching it, because the starting lineup of the national team in this game has some changes compared to before. ”

"The goalkeeper is still Zeng Cheng, the back line is Wang Shenchao, Deng Hanwen, Feng Xiaoting and Zhang Linpeng, the midfield is still three players, but it is Hao Junmin, Zhang Xizhe and Huang Bowen, and Lin Liangming did not play in the front-court offensive combination, Wu Lei started on the left, Zhang Yuning in the middle, and Yu Hanchao on the right."

"Such a platoon is indeed very surprising, like the captain Zheng Zhi, Jiang Zhipeng, Mei Fang and others on the back line did not play. However, considering that it has been mentioned before the game that the national football team currently has some injuries, it may be a helpless move by the coaching staff. Director Zhang, what do you think? ”

Zhang Lu: "Although we have made five changes in the starting lineup, I don't think we need to worry about that. ”

"Whether it's Lippi or Pan Yi, they are both experienced world-class coaches, and they must have been carefully considered to have such a lineup."

"And in terms of formation, the main framework of 4-3-3 has not changed, and offensive players like Zhang Xizhe and Hao Junmin are also used in the midfield, which basically shows the attitude of the coaching staff in this game, which is to attack."

"That's the right idea. Now that Uzbekistan and South Korea have dropped the chain, it is a good opportunity for us to catch up, so we have to attack to win and get three points! Although Lippi and Pan Yi have been emphasizing the pressure on the national football team, now we are secretly saying here that they can't hear it, hehe......"

He Wei: "Haha, Director Zhang is really humorous. ”

"However, this kind of arrangement also has the advantage of making the opponent unpredictable, and it is impossible to carry out targeted defense."

"We can see through the camera that the Syrian manager seems to be a little surprised, because the starting line-up should be a little different from what he expected."

"Okay, both players are in their own half and the game is about to start."

"This national team has given us enough surprises in the last few games, so will the change in their starting line-up today also surprise us?"

"Let's wait and see!"